


My Family Tree, or how I am related to all the Kingdoms of the Old World  By Henry Mills, aged 12

by Rioghna



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Humor, F/M, Family, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-22
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-20 08:36:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1503881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rioghna/pseuds/Rioghna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry has to do a school report on his family tree, giving him a license to ask all the things he has always wanted to ask.</p><p>Post 'Coming Home' but Pan never got out of the box, because I like my characters alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. School Project

My Family Tree, or how I am related to all the Kingdoms of the Old World  
By Henry Mills, aged 12

Storybrooke, Maine gave new meaning to the idea of blended families. Regina Mills, Mayor, former Evil Queen and caster of the curse that brought the from their home in the Enchanted Forest had a true genius for tearing families apart and putting the pieces back together in new and miserable ways. It had made the breaking of the curse...interesting. 

Henry Mills was thinking of some of this as he headed to Granny's diner for an after school hot chocolate and to meet his mother (well, one of them). Some of those people might never forgive his Mom, he was pretty sure of that, but over all, with the breaking of the curse, things were better, weren't they? This train of thought was brought on by his latest school assignment. 

Mrs. Potter had given them a project, one that she said was to allow them to explore who they were both here and back home in the world of magic. They had to explore their family trees in both worlds, compare them, and map them out for a class presentation. Henry was probably one of the few people that was really excited about it, though he didn't think he was the only one. It gave him an excuse to ask all kinds of questions that he was dying to ask, piece together bits of things that he had heard, all with a school assignment as an excuse. 

For a moment he thought about all the other kids. Some really weren't into it, but he knew others were as excited as he was. Grace, the Mad Hatter's daughter, had a particularly difficult time of it. They were good friends, and he was one of the few people she could really talk to. She was back with her father now, but she had been given to a couple who had been desperate for a child back in the old world. Henry had overheard some of the conversation when he had been at Grace's house. Her father wanted to keep her very close, not a big surprise since he still wasn't the sanest man in town. But her new family wanted to see her as well. They had begged Jefferson to allow them to see her, to share part of the custody. Henry and Grace had kind of been hiding behind the door. He remember being struck with the way her adopted mother had told him that they had even considered calling on the Dark One for a child, but the curse had struck. That had given them both such a shock that Grace had knocked something over and they had almost gotten caught. Still, Grace said they were working the details out. Her father was a little overprotective, but he seemed to understand..

Taking his usual place at Granny's, Henry pulled out a piece of paper and started on the bottom corner, just so he could figure out how to do this. He had the teacher's diagram but he wasn't exactly sure how to go about it, or in what order. On the very bottom of the paper, he put his name, 'Henry Mills', then he put a line and copying the directions, wrote in his mother's name 'Emma Swan'. Unlike some of the other kids, his mother didn't have another cursed name, so that would save some space. Next, father 'Neal Cassidy/Baelfire'. Henry opened his notebook where he was supposed to keep notes of the questions and interviews he was doing. He made a note to ask his father where he got that name, since it wasn't a part of the curse, he had made it to this world a different way. 

Then he made a notation on the chart of his adopted mother, 'Regina Mills/Queen Regina'. He wasn't the only kid in his class to have adopted or changed parents because of the curse, Mrs. Potter had included that in her template. Now he just had to get to the next bit. He wondered briefly about whether he should include Robin Hood. The outlaw and his men had come through to Storybrooke about six months ago after the first attempts to open a portal to the Enchanted Forest. His grandfather Rumplestiltskin (and how cool was that, at least most of the time, that his grandfather was a killer sorcerer?), his adopted Mom and the Blue fairy were working on a way to open the door between realms. But the portal had only sort of worked and opened into the middle of a forest camp that had been under siege by Ogres. He hadn't seen it himself, but he had heard the story. Rumplestiltskin had gone straight up against the ogres (his Papa had told him that his grandfather took Ogres kind of personally) while Emma and papa had helped the refugees through. His other mother and the Blue Fairy, who had been lending support, managed to keep the portal open long enough to get as many people through as they could, but now they were back to the drawing board with a way to get them home that didn't also end in ogres. At least it had worked out for some people.

But now Robin Hood was kind of dating his other mom. At first he wasn't sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, Robin Hood, that was pretty cool, and he was a nice guy. But on the other hand, he wasn't really sure about his mom dating. Still, she seemed happy enough. Henry penciled in Robin next to his mother, and added lines for his wife who had died, Marian, and Roland, his son. Next he started making a list of all the interviews he would have to do. Emma couldn't really tell him much except about growing up in this world, which he thought would add some interest so he made a note about that, next to the one about his dad. 

Snow White and Prince Charming were alive and here, so those grandparents he could talk to. He could also talk to other grandfather. But he wasn't sure if he should ask about his other grandmother, his father's mother and Rumplestiltskin's first wife. He knew that there was some issue there, and that Killian Jones was somehow involved, but he didn't know how to ask. Thinking about it, Henry decided he'd ask his mom how to approach that. Not that he ever worried about his grandfather hurting him, not after all he had gone through in Neverland to save him, but when the man didn't want to talk about something, he wouldn't. Besides Henry had so many other things to ask him about, about his father and mother. That was plenty enough awkward without adding to it. He carefully wrote the names in, 'Mary Margaret Blanchard/Snow White' and connected her to 'David Nolan/Prince James' before putting his other grandfather on the chart, 'R. Gold/Rumplestiltskin'. Looking at it, he realised he didn't know his grandfather's cursed first name and made a note of that as well. He left a space for his father's mother, and then, just to be through, he added 'Belle French Gold/Lady Belle of Avonlea' next to his grandfather's name. That looked right, and he really liked Belle. Plus she was the one that people went to when his grandfather got a little scary. 

By the time his mom joined him, he had gotten as far as his grandparent's parent's. He knew that his adopted mother's mother was Cora who was an evil witch who had really hurt his mom, and that her father was also called Henry (he was named after him), but that was it for that part. He also didn't know anything about David's parents, or Snow's except that her father was King Leopold who had married his adopted mom. He immediately made a note to ask the teacher how exactly he was going to express that bit. His family tree, he realised was complicated, a lot complicated. 

"Hey, kiddo, what you doing?" his mother said as she came in and dropped into the seat opposite. 

"Homework. Mrs. Potter wants us to do a family tree."

"Ugh," Emma said, waving at Ruby for a cup of coffee. "Well, I'm no help on this one. I don't know anything much about the family, except what Mary Margaret has told me. But it's not like you can't ask her. Heck, you're probably the only kid in town to have three living grandparents here. "

"Yeah, I just kind of wanted to start with the basics, figure out what questions I want to ask, that kind of thing. Mom, did Papa ever talk about his mother?" He asked.

Emma looked at her son and thought about it. He had picked up his father's way of calling Rumplestiltskin 'Papa', and the sheriff couldn't help but find it kind of sweet, but she would never tell either of them that. "We didn't much talk about it before," she told him. "Besides, can you imagine that conversation? 'I was born in an enchanted fairy tale land, but I left because my father became the villain. Then I went to a different fairy tale land to be tormented by grandfather, who happens to be Peter Pan?' Tell you what kid, you wouldn't be here if he had."

"Well, what did he say?" Henry asked. 

"He told me that he was on his own. I figured he was a foster kid like me, I never asked. But now is your chance," she said leaning back in her chair. Neal Cassidy, otherwise known as Baelfire, was pulling up across from the diner. "I'm working tonight, so it's going to be just you guys." Emma smiled as Neal came into the diner and leaned down to kiss her. 

"Mom," Henry complained, but he didn't really mean it and they knew it. Getting to know his father, finding out that his father still loved his mother, and what they had all been through to rescue him, that had really gone a long way to make up for leaving her in the first place. Well that and the whole curse thing. Henry was still pretty upset at August, or he would be if he hadn't been turned back into a little kid who didn't remember anything. 

"Hey Papa," Henry said when they had separated and the man had dropped into the seat across from him. Like a lot of people in town there was a whole lot of back and forth as to what to call his father. His Mom called him Neal, but his grandfather and Belle still called him Bae. He seemed to answer to either, but Henry made a note to ask about that. Not that he ever saw a use for it, but this assignment was pretty much a blank check to ask all the questions he ever wanted to. Henry intended to use it for all it was worth.

"Hey, just us guys tonight, that good with you?"

"Sure, you can help me with the school project," Henry told him.

"I don't know, kid. I'm not sure how much good I'm going to be," he shook his head before looking over at what his son was doing. That didn't seem to reassure him any, either. "Uh, what's all this about?"

"Mrs. Potter wants us to do a project on our family trees. You know, interview family, figure out who is who, and was who. She said something about trying to integrate who we were before, or something, of course I wasn't before, so I just have family."

Bae took a deep breath. "Not sure this is a good idea, Henry," he said slowly. "Might dig up some pretty uncomfortable things. But I'll help with what I can." He didn't look happy, but Henry was pretty sure that he would tell him what he needed to know. "So, want to pick up a pizza for dinner?" he asked. 

"Only if you leave a piece for me,"Emma said. "I gotta take off, you two don't get in any trouble."

"Who, us?" his father said, with an innocent look that no one would believe. 

 

Two hours later, they were back in the loft with two pizzas (one with actual vegetables to make it count as a balanced meal) and a large piece of poster board, which Henry thought would give him room for his adopted mom's family and some room for his step grandmother and her family. Plus, his grandpa David who, he found out had both a set of parents and an adopted father who almost convicted his grandmother of a murder that didn't actually happen. They had met up at the drugstore, so Henry had made arrangements to talk to him tomorrow. Then there was that, he made another note in his book about the time his grandfather spent married to a woman who was also married to someone else. Of course he'd actually been in a coma, so that didn't count did it? Not sure what to do with that, he just made a note of it and went on. First things first.

"How's it going?" his father asked, as he put plates down beside them and opened the boxes. 

"Well, I've got an outline, and a bunch of questions to ask. You know between the curse and the enchanted forest, I'm practically related to everyone, except maybe the dwarves," he said. "And the fairies."

"Well, not related, exactly but if it weren't for the Blue Fairy, you wouldn't be here. She is the one that gave me the magic bean to come to this world. I've never been sure whether she did it deliberately."

"What do you mean?" Henry asked, putting a piece pizza on his plate. 

"Well, if everything had gone right, I would have been long dead by the time you all got here. Time runs differently in different worlds. Here it runs one way, but in Neverland, there is no time, no really. I don't know how long I was there, but at least a hundred years passed here, and about two hundred in the Enchanted Forest. The point is, if she was trying to get the Dark One out of the Enchanted Forest, it didn't work. Thinking about it now, and promise you won't ever mention it to him, it was hard enough for him to tell me, Papa was never going to go through that portal. The last time he went through a portal, his father turned into Peter Pan and abandoned him."

"Abandoned him, why? I mean, I knew he was Peter Pan, but..."Henry paused. At no time during his sojourn in Neverland did the leader of the lost boys mention that he was a father, much less Henry's great grandfather. It was only when he was fighting Rumplestiltskin that the truth had come out. 

"Your Grandfather doesn't want to talk about it, and I doubt anything will make him. All I know is that he gave him up to be Peter Pan. It was all about the power, I think. Growing up he never talked about his father at all, except to say he had left him. I know nothing about his mother, I think she must have died in childbirth."

"Wow," Henry said. 

"Yeah, wow, this family has some pretty big issues. But you know one thing, that your grandfather would do anything to keep you safe."

"I know, just like I know you and Mom and Regina would. I guess taking family seriously is one thing that we all have in common."

"You got that right kid, now what's next?"


	2. Bits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Henry finds out something's about his grandmother, and Bae talks about his father.

When his mother returned, she was surprised to find Henry at the table, apparently deep in thought. He had the book out, the book that had led him to decipher the curse. "What you still doing up, kid?"

"Couldn't sleep," he told her.

"Any particular reason?"

"Not really, just looking for some answers. Papa wasn't a lot of help with his mother." He turned and looked at the tape recorder that his mother used for her cases, which he had borrowed for his project.

" _I don't really remember her, not that much. She left my papa when I was still a little kid. Sometimes I think I remember her, but Henry, they aren't good memories. She and Papa didn't really get along. She..." There was a deep breath. "Look, I'm going to tell you this because I want you to understand why you shouldn't ask your grandfather about her. Not that I think he would answer but you should understand. My mother, Milah was her name, she wasn't...she wasn't happy being a wife and mother. Papa thought it was because people said he was a coward, but I don't think it was that. I think she never would have been happy with us. She never really took care of me, leaving everything up to Papa. Of course, I didn't know that. He would make up stories about why she wasn't home. When I was probably four or five, she didn't come home, and papa told me she had been killed by a pirate. It wasn't until later that I found out she had actually run off with the pirate._

_"What about Grandpa? What was he like, when you were little?_

_"Well, he wasn't green yet, that's for sure. Actually he was great. I mean, we didn't have a lot, but he took care of me. You have to understand, being a kid in the Frontlands was a lot different than being a kid here is. I had chores from time I was old enough, and Papa worked all the hours he could, carding wool, spinning thread and yarn. He was home though, and he was always there for me. A lot of the men in the village didn't like him because they said he was a coward, that he ran away from the Ogre War, but there were some, like my friend Morraine's father, who had been there, and they knew what it was like. The rest, well, let's just say there weren't a lot of people who came home to brag about it. But I think some of the women actually understood. My friends' mothers would slip me a little something extra to take home. Papa may have been a coward to them but some of the women in the village, I think they respected how hard he worked. Plus, they didn't like my mom. I think they didn't like her before she went away. Anyway, as soon as I was big enough, I had chores, cleaning up, taking care of the sheep when I got older and helping with the shearing. I even learned to spin, but I was never as good at it as Papa was. He always said he wanted more for me. If things hadn't happened the way they did, I don't know what I would have ended up doing." Henry turned off the tape recorder._

He knew what the rest of it said. Who the pirate was had been pretty obvious, when you factored Killian Jones in. The attack on Belle, on Gold, that pretty much told it too. His father offered to take him to talk to Hook, and he genuinely wanted to. It would be kind of cool to know about her, but could he put it in his report? Rumplestiltskin was a very private person; would he want everyone in the school knowing that his first wife had left him? Could he do that to his grandfather? How many people actually knew his papa's parents were married before he became the Dark One? It was nice to hear about his grandfather when he was human though, and the kind of father he had been. Henry wondered if he was like his papa was now, working hard but always having time to do things with him.

He thought about it and decided he would just gather all the information together and figure it out later. As it was, his report was going to be huge. He had more living family in town than anyone he could think of, and that was without including his adopted mother and her family, or any related by marriage during the curse.

Deciding to tackle his other mother next, Henry turned and started taking notes of the questions he needed to ask her.

It being Saturday, long standing tradition (ok for the last year anyway) was for his mom and papa to take him to Granny's for a big breakfast, after which he would go spend time with his other mother. Sometimes she was working, but talking to her at her office might be better. It sounded like a good plan; he could talk to her in the morning and his granddad in the afternoon. He looked at his list and made a few short notes. He knew who his adopted mother's parent were, indirectly. Cora, his grandmother, had been a evil witch who tried to kill his grandfather. On the other hand, he knew very little about Regina's father except that he was named after him. There was just so much to do.

As soon as breakfast was over, he said good bye to his parents and Ruby and hurried over to his mother's office. Regina was at her desk when he came in, and she smiled as she looked up and saw him. "Henry, what are you doing here?" she asked. This wasn't his weekend to stay over with her, so she had more or less figured she would see him sometime after she finished up at the office.

"Hi Mom," he said, giving her a hug. "Mrs. Potter gave us an assignment and I need your help," he said.

"Okay, what kind of help?" she asked. While she was familiar with his teacher, (actually with all the teachers, it was a small town) she didn't keep up with the day to day assignments. Henry wasn't the kind of kid who needed a lot of encouragement to get his homework done.

"It's about our family, the project is on my family tree, and I realise I don't really know anything about your parents or their parents."

"Henry...I..." she paused, not sure what to say. Regina didn't much talk about her family, especially now that her life was going so well. She was trying to become the mother that she always wanted to be, the mother that she really wished that her mother had been.

"I know that it's not easy, Mom, but come on. It's for school, please?" He looked at her with big, earnest eyes, and Regina realised that she was caught.

"What do you want to know?" she said with a sigh.

"Here, let me get the tape recorder. I'm not sure what I'm going to use, and what I'm not, I mean with all the family and stuff. How about the easy stuff first; let me fill out the chart?" he asked as he pulled stuff out of his backpack and arranged it on his side of her desk. He set up the tape recorder and pulled out the temporary chart he had made, just enough so he could transcribe it onto the big chart when he got home. "Okay, your mother was Cora, what about her parents?" he asked, pencil poised over the paper.

"My mother never talked about her parents; she didn't want anyone to know that she was a peasant before she married my father. Her father was a miller; that is about all I know. Her mother died when she was young; a fever, I think. My mother wasn't really the talkative sort," Regina told him.

"Okay, what about your father's parents?"

"My father was Henry, you know that; I named you after him. His father was King Xavier. It was a small kingdom; my grandfather died when I was a baby, but Daddy loved him. His mother died before my parents even met; her name was Kathryn, and that's pretty much all I know about her either."

Henry nodded and wrote it all down, drawing lines where they were appropriate. That was the easy part, and he knew it. Now it was time for the difficult questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Comments greatly appreciated. This is not part of my holiday series but is related.


	3. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Henry gets answers, some he wanted, some he didn't and finds out some things he isn't sure he wanted to know.

Late Saturday night, Henry sat at the kitchen counter listening to his tape recordings and trying to figure out what to leave in and what to take out.

_"What was my Daddy like? He was...special. He always wanted me to be happy, not like my mother. He was content being the King of a small, kind of backwater kingdom. It was my mother who wanted more for me. I think he would have been fine if I ended up married to Daniel. No matter what I did, Mother always criticized everything, kind of the way I was before...I didn't mean to, but I guess that is what I thought mothers were. My daddy was different, supportive, loving. No matter what."_

_"Did he and your mother love each other?'_

_"I don't know. I don't think my mother really understood what love was. She had a heart once, but she took it out and locked it away. She always said it was insurance against someone trying to kill her with magic, but I think she just didn't want to feel. Mother always thought that love was a weakness. Of course, she wanted me to marry a powerful king, in fact, she did everything to arrange it. That whole thing with Snow White's horse? That was my mother. Not that I wouldn't have saved her regardless, but I wish I had known what it would do to my life. Of course that was before the magic, before Rumplestiltskin and..."_ Henry turned off the tape. He wasn't completely sure how much of that was useful, but it explained a lot. He fast forwarded the tape, stopping occasionally. He didn't really want to put any of the stuff about Cora in his paper, he couldn't even really call her his grandmother, not with any kind of real feeling. He knew what grandmothers were supposed to be, like Snow White or even Belle. The kind of people who listened when he talked, did things with him, even helped him with his homework (a school teacher and a librarian meant he never had to worry about that kind of thing). He would much rather consider either of them.

Hitting the fast forward button, he tried to remember where the rest of the stuff he wanted to listen to was.

 _"She hated that he was..."_ Henry clicked the button again. It had been kind of hard hearing some of the things his mom had to say, and he knew he wasn't going to use any of it. It wouldn't be right, especially with how hard changing had been on her. Then there was the other stuff, the stuff about his grandmother's relationship with his other grandfather (and there was a thought he really really didn't want to dwell on). His mother hadn't exactly meant to tell him about...well, whatever it was. It had just sort of slipped out while she was talking about how she had gotten Rumplestiltskin to take her as a student, she had said something about how he had taught Cora, and about the things Cora had taught him with that kind of tone, like it was something she didn't want to think about too much either. He got the feeling it had to do with sex and stuff, and that was nothing he wanted to think about ever with any of his parents or grandparents, even though in the logical, non grossed out parts of his mind he realised that it had to happen sometimes or none of them would be here in the first place. It did make him think about his mother, about his grandmother, and he didn't like where those thoughts were leading him at all. It would take time for him to figure out how to approach his grandfather though, especially with all the other things he had to ask them.

Instead he pressed the button and let the tape go again. _"Leopold was a nice enough man, but I didn't love him. My mother wanted the marriage. Then after Daniel died, after she killed him, I just didn't care. He didn't love me either. He'd only ever loved Snow's mother, and I suppose I felt like I was living in her shadow. He didn't want a new wife, he wanted a mother for Snow White, and a Queen for the kingdom. We hardly ever saw each other to be honest. He was much older than I was, and I suppose he just didn't think...I went from being under my mother's thumb to being the Queen. Everyone constantly compared me to Eva and I felt like I would never measure up. I didn't even have time to mourn the loss of my True Love before I was getting married in a huge ceremony that felt like it was for everyone but me.  It didn't make me a very easy person to live with, I admit. Then there was Snow White, she was a nice enough child, at least at first. I...I kind of liked her, actually. That was before my mother tricked her into betraying me. Even after that, she tried, I know that now. But she was the darling of the Court and the apple of her father's eye. I suppose I just never felt like I was a part of the family. I was always an outsider."_ Her voice was still bitter, Henry knew that, but she was trying, really trying to be better.

" _After Daniel died I hated her, though of course I tried not to show it. She wasn't a bad girl, but everyone loved her, no matter what she did. She wanted me to be a mother to her, I'll give her that, tried to treat me well, mostly listened and did what she was told, but I wasn't ready to be the mother to anyone, let alone a girl who was too old to be mine and had already lost one mother. I suppose I just resented everything she had, the relationship she had with her mother, with her subjects, that everything always seemed to work out for her without her having to do anything. I suppose I could have turned into my mother and married her off to some King twice her age, but despite our differences, that was one thing I never even considered, not after the way it was done to me.."_ It was the longest he had ever heard her talk about his grandmother. Not that it wasn't weird, that his adopted mother was his grandmother's step mother without any of the other stuff that happened. They were getting along pretty well right now, at least as far as he could tell. His adopted Mom had been invited to all the family things, and sometimes she even came, though not always. Henry supposed getting over being the Evil Queen wasn't any easier for her than it was for anyone else, but they were all trying. Having heard more than enough for what he needed, Henry fast forwarded the tape til he heard his Grandpa Charming talking.

They had arranged the night before to get together for lunch to talk. Since his Grandma Snow taught at the school, she already knew all about the project, so he did too. Fortunately he was pretty sure that his grandfather didn't have a lot of weird stuff in his family, or at least not weird-weird. It kind of took a lot to get weirder than his parents, or the whole adopted mother/step great grandmother thing. Originally he had been supposed to meet him at Granny's Diner, but since his mother was out with his father, Gramps was watching the Sheriff's station. He had called Henry on his brand new cell phone (given to him by his other grandfather, 'just in case, too many things go wrong in this town'), and asked him to grab them some food and bring it up to the office. He agreed, especially since there were some things that maybe shouldn't be talked about in front of other people. When he had arrived at the Sheriff's office with two burgers, and milkshakes for both of them, Gramps was behind the desk, reading something that looked pretty boring.

"Hey kiddo," he said, putting the papers back in the file in front of him. "Just finishing the report on Mrs. Hubbard's dog, seems the thing got out again and got into the garbage on the street. At least it didn't get into Gold's garbage this time. I think he has them magically nailed shut til the garbage man comes." His grandfather cleared some space for him and Henry pulled up a chair. "What did you bring us?" he asked.

"Burgers and milkshakes," Henry said, putting down the bag and cups before dropping his backpack to the floor.

"Great, just don't tell your grandmother. She's worried about my diet. I think she has been reading some of those magazines from outside, we never worried about those things back home. Of course, we spent a lot more time outside, working up an appetite."

"Do you miss it?" Henry asked as he pulled his burger and fries out of the bag. Granny's did a great burger.

"The Enchanted Forest? Sure, well some of it anyway. I mean, I can't say I don't like some things here, electricity, cars, running water that doesn't require magic or a hand pump, those are all pretty good things, but it isn't home. One day hopefully you will see."

"Do you think that Mom will want to go, when my Grandpa figures it out?" Henry had honestly been a little afraid about that, though he didn't say anything to his Mom. She and Neal were getting along really well, especially now that his grandparents had moved out and his Papa had moved in. His pop had been here since he was a teenager, so he and Mom both kind of got this world, but he didn't think that he would want to be separated from his father again, Mom, he could never tell though.

"I think when the time comes, your mother will make the best decision for both of you. Now, why don't we get going on this project of yours."

 

 _"Start with where you were born,"_ Henry said on the tape, and he knew he had the right place.

_"You mean specifically? I was born on a small farm outside a small village in King George's lands. The village was called Northshire, about the size of Storybrooke, actually. My parents had a small farm outside the village, raised sheep. It was a pretty normal, boring life, until...well, until the day that Rumplestiltskin showed up. Before that, I didn't even know I had a brother, let alone a twin. It was a real eye opener, I can tell you. One day I'm chasing sheep in the back pasture, the next I'm the King's son, slaying dragons and about to marry a princess."_

_"That's pretty cool."_

_"Not really, well, it seemed like it at the time. I mean I was kind of upset at my parents for never telling me."_

_"Did you ever wish it was you?"_ That wasn't one of the questions he'd meant to ask, it had just kind of come up, but Henry decided to leave it in. He wasn't sure if he would do anything with it, but he kept it anyway.

_"Not really. I loved my parents, my Father was David, by the way, since I'm pretty sure you need that for your tree. My mother was Ruth, and of course you know my brother was James. I never really got used to answering to it. I never knew my grandparents but that wasn't all that uncommon back there. Anyway, they were about to lose the farm when Rumplestiltskin came and offered them a deal. I was mad at him for that. I didn't like to think about Rumplestiltskin taking advantage of them like that. But that was before I knew more about him. He'd never admit it, but I think he took one of us, figuring that way we would both live. I don't know what my parents would have done if they had to raise both of us. Not that I don't wish we had both stayed, but I kind of understand it, now that I'm a father."_

_"What was your name, you know, before..."_

_"It was David, actually. I was the older by a couple of minutes, so I was named after my father. I guess that is how I ended up David here. It makes it easier to answer to it, even though everyone seems to have picked up your grandmother's nickname for me. Later, I learned more about my brother and I guess I didn't really want his name. I wonder what he would have been like if he had grown up with me. I mean, I think King George really loved him, but it's hard to tell with him. I know he resented me for being alive while James was dead, but that's pretty understandable. Still, he tried to kill me more than once, so I don't really feel too attached to him."_

Henry turned off the tape, and made a couple of notes. His grandfather's adopted father was King George, and he was married to Queen Elisa, who was dead before James (the original James) died, so there was nothing he could do about that. It was probably time to talk about his other wife, or whatever she was. That should take care of everyone. He knew the basics, how his grandfather was supposed to marry her in the Enchanted Forest but they realised they really didn't love each other, and how his grandfather had saved her True Love who had accidentally been turned by her own father's curse into a gold statue.

_"Kathryn? She was nice enough, but I didn't love her, either here or there. When I met her, she was still mourning for Fredrick, thinking he was beyond help. All I did was figure out how to get them back together. It was a good solution for everyone, except King George, who wanted Midas in the family. King Midas is actually a nice man, and a pretty good leader, once he got over the whole turning everything to gold problem. Though I overheard King George talking, saying he was a different man after his curse. I guess sometimes you just have to learn what's important. So now Kathryn, well, she was Abigail, but I think she likes Kathryn better, she and Fredrick are back together. I don't know why Regina tried to put us together to be honest."_

_"But you were never really married to her, I mean, you didn't live together or anything, right? It was just the curse, and you were in a coma the whole time?"_

_"That's what they tell me, until your Mom came to town and then you convinced your Grandmother to wake me up, Sport."_

Henry turned the tape off. He had pretty much everything he needed from his Grandfather, well that one at least. He checked her off the list, and started planning his next interview. His other grandfather wasn't going to be nearly as easy, and he knew he had to plan all the questions really carefully. Grandpa might not lie to him, but there were things he didn't like to talk about, and if he didn't want to, getting anything out of him could be difficult. "Perhaps, I should talk to Belle," he thought to himself. If there was ever any way to get him to talk, it was by getting Belle involved. He wondered if he should talk to Hook first or last. Contemplating the next step, he sat down to work on some ideas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to those who are reading this one, still. Its been a while but I have been flooded with plot bunnies and the bloody things won't stop making more. Please enjoy, review, and all those good things that keep the story flowing.

**Author's Note:**

> I have actually been poking this one since the end of Series Two, but it didn't get fleshed out til some time before 'Coming Home' so that is where we are leaving it. Read, review, all those good things, please feed the muse, she loves comments.


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